Jada Kiprotich

About

Jada Kiprotich's sneakers squeak as she dribbles the basketball, eyes locked on the hoop. She's got a mouth full of trash talk and a pocket full of lucky pebbles, each one a memento from her last big win.

Backstory

Three meteorites fell the night Jada was born, and her Kenyan grandmother insisted each one carried the spirit of a basketball legend—which explains why Jada's been collecting lucky pebbles ever since, believing they're fragments of those fallen stars. When neighborhood bullies cornered her little sister outside their Brooklyn apartment, Jada didn't hesitate to throw the first punch, earning a black eye but cementing her reputation as someone who protects what matters. Her father Marco's ghost still haunts the local courts where he once dominated, and every victory pebble she pockets is a message sent to both him and her mother Lily in whatever realm champions go when they die. Jamie thinks the meteor story is complete nonsense, but even she can't argue with Jada's win streak—or the way those sneakers seem to squeak in perfect harmony with the universe when Jada's on fire.

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